Takhar: Scores of cops & pick-ups at disposal of warlords

TALOQAN (Pajhwok): Local security officials on Tuesday confirmed dozens of policemen and pick-ups were in the service of some powerful individuals in northeastern Takhar province.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Takhar police chief, Maj. Gen. Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani, said that 22 Ranger pick-ups and 157 policemen were in the service of powerful individuals.

He acknowledged withdrawing the police personnel and vehicles from the strongmen was a difficult job. “Such acts are fuelling security incidents,” he believed, without naming any warlord.

If that number of police forces and pick-ups were deployed to any district, the security situation there would improve considerably, Jawzjani remarked, saying efforts were underway to retake the police personnel and government vehicles from the powerful figures.

“I have banned the supply of government fuel for pick-ups, so they have to hand them over to us or purchase fuel on their own,” he said, adding there were reports about the vehicles transporting militants from one area to another.

Provincial Council Chairman Yaqub Nazari said: “Whenever a commander tries to retake these rangers from the powerful individuals, he was pressed by higher-ups to abandon such attempts.”

He claimed raising the issue at every security meeting but their attempts had not yielded any results. Many districts needed more police personnel and pick-ups, the public representatives said.

A civil society activist in Takhar, Jamroz Khan Hadafman, alleged pick-ups and policemen were at the disposal of former jihadi commanders and families of government officials killed in the war.

“The government has assigned only two policemen to each of VIPs, but they have 10 policemen and thereby create security problems in the province,” the activist complained.

Shabir Ahmad, a resident of Taloqan, the capital of Takhar, also grumbled that assigning pick-ups and police personnel to warlords had created problems. “Some of the vehicles are driven by children, threatening other cars by violating traffic rules.”

He charged the people illegally using government vehicles were also complicit in kidnappings, robberies and murdering cases.